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NS Congressional testimony from Facebook informant Frances HaugenIntensifying calls for new laws and regulations in Europe targeting the social media company and other Silicon Valley giants, it’s considered by many to be among the world’s most stringent and far-reaching proposals.
Alexandra Geese, a lawmaker from Germany in the European Parliament, said Ms Haugen’s statement showed the need for tighter regulation alongside the global shutdown that shut down Facebook, Instagram and WhatsApp for billions of people this week.
“Any trust that might have been in the company has been destroyed,” said Ms. Geese. “Now we know we need to regulate because the company won’t stop messing things up. And breaking things means breaking people and democracies.”
In her statement, Ms. Haugen detailed the inner workings of Facebook and its negative impact on society, and outlined several ideas that fit into those discussed by European Union officials last year.
One of the proposals, the Digital Services Act, could be passed as early as next year. It contains the transparency requirements Ms Haugen requested during her testimony and requires Facebook and other major tech platforms to disclose details about their services, algorithms and content moderation practices to regulators and outside researchers. The bill could also force Facebook and other tech giants to conduct annual risk assessments in areas such as the spread of misinformation and hateful content.
Another EU proposal, called the Digital Markets Act, introduces new competition regulation for the largest tech platforms, including restricting their ability to use their dominance with one product to gain an edge over competitors in another product category.
Christel Schaldemose, a Danish member of the European Parliament who played a leading role in drafting the Digital Services Act, said he spoke to Ms. Haugen a few weeks ago.
“She asked me to insist on organizing the platforms,” Ms Schaldemose said in an email. “And that’s what I’m working on. Especially the transparency and accountability of algorithms.”
The European Union has been the world’s leading tech industry regulator for years on issues such as antitrust and data privacy, and its rules often serve as a model for other countries. Facebook and other Silicon Valley companies have poured money into lobbying to shape new laws to their liking.
According to the Corporate Europe Observatory, a monitoring group, the tech industry currently spends more on drugs, fossil fuels, finance and chemicals than any other industry to lobby the European Union.
In Washington, Ms. Haugen’s testimony resulted in bipartisan calls for stricter legislation, but a timeline for the passage of new policies remains unclear. There are some signs that Europe and the United States are converging on ideas to organize the biggest tech platforms.
Last week, after the digital policy meeting of the European Union and Biden administration officials, the two sides issued a joint statement on “common concerns”, including the need for greater transparency about how algorithms work and how they empower certain content over others.
Elian Peltier contributing reporting.
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